A Matter of Life and Death (play)
Encyclopedia
A Matter of Life and Death is a stage adaptation by Tom Morris and Emma Rice of Powell and Pressburger
's film of the same name for the company Kneehigh Theatre
. Its first run at the National Theatre
lasted from 3 May 2007 to 21 June 2007.
, 12 May 2007.
, its historical place in world events and how it is perceived by the rest of the world, and had to be replaced with different arguments about war and the effects of war. For the denouement, Peter's fate was decided by the toss of a coin, rather than by June's offer to change places with him; the end thus varied from performance to performance.
Most of the major reviewers seem to have seen it on a night when the toss of the coin determined that Peter would die. This does tend to negate much of what has gone before, all of his struggles to stay alive. Those that saw it on a night when Peter lived usually give a more positive report.
's wholly negative account in the Evening Standard
to Susannah Clapp's enthusiastic review in The Observer
, critical reaction to the play was generally poor. This prompted an attack by National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner
on the major London critics, whom he described as "dead white men"http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article1785100.ece. His charges of misogyny and prejudice against female directors and new styles of theatre were hotly rebutted by his targets.
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
's film of the same name for the company Kneehigh Theatre
Kneehigh Theatre
Kneehigh Theatre is an international theatre company based in Cornwall, England.Kneehigh was started in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Early productions were performed in village halls, marquees, cliff-tops and quarries...
. Its first run at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
lasted from 3 May 2007 to 21 June 2007.
Cast & crew
Taken from the programme of the performance at the Olivier Theatre, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 12 May 2007.
Production team
- Director: Emma Rice
- Set Designer: Bill Mitchell
- Costume Designer: Vicki Mortimer
- Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson
- Choreographer: Debra Batton & Emma Rice
- Music: Stu Barker
- Sound Designer: Gareth Fry
- Projection Designers: Jon Driscoll & Gemma Carrington
Cast
| On Earth | |
| Peter | Tristan Sturrock |
| June | Lyndsey Marshal Lyndsey Marshal Lyndsey Marshal is an English actress best known for her performance in The Hours as the recurring character Cleopatra on HBO's Rome, and as Lady Sarah Hill in BBC period drama Garrow's Law.-Biography:... |
| Bob | Craig Johnson |
| Girl | Debbie Korley |
| Frank | Douglas Hodge Douglas Hodge Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Hodge is a council member of the National Youth Theatre for whom, in 1989, he co-wrote Pacha Mama's Blessing about the Amazon rain forests staged at the Almeida... |
| Dr McEwan | Andy Williams |
| Mr Archer | Chiké Okonkwo Chiké Okonkwo Chiké Okonkwo is an English actor, known for portraying PC Clark in New Tricks and DC Callum Gada in Paradox.-Background:Born and raised in Kingston upon Thames, Okonkwo is of Nigerian descent... |
| Harold | Mike Shepherd |
| Between Life and Death | |
| Boy | Dan Canham |
| Woman | Dorothy Atkinson |
| Nurse | Fiona Chivers |
| Nurse | Meryl Fernandes Meryl Fernandes Meryl Glynis Fernandes is an English actress. Her best known role is playing Afia Khan, a love interest for Tamwar Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, originally making a guest appearance between the 29 December 2009 and 5 January 2010... |
| Nurse | Lorraine Stewart |
| Nurse | Kirsty Woodward |
| Patient | Jamie Bradley |
| Patient | Thomas Goodridge |
| Patient | Pieter Lawman |
| Patient | Róbert Luckay |
| In the Other World | |
| Conductor 71 | Gisli Örn Gardarsson |
| Chief Recorder | Tamzin Griffin |
| First Prosecutor | Stuart McLoughlin Stuart McLoughlin Stuart McLoughlin is a British actor. He is notable for his appearance in the title role in 2008's Clone. His other TV appearances include 2008's Little Dorrit and Waking the Dead , and he has also appeared onstage in A Matter of Life and Death... |
| All other parts played by members of the Company | |
| Musician | Stu Barker |
| Musician | Pete Judge |
| Musician | Dominic Lawton |
| Musician | Alex Vann |
| Musician | Michael Vince |
Differences from the film
Though the plot of the adaptation was broadly similar, there are some differences. In the play June, the nurse with whom Peter falls in love, was British rather than American, since the company "felt that it would distract attention from the central story and towards the different issues of Anglo-American relations today".http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/story/0,,2074143,00.html However, this meant that the courtroom scenes could not include the arguments about BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, its historical place in world events and how it is perceived by the rest of the world, and had to be replaced with different arguments about war and the effects of war. For the denouement, Peter's fate was decided by the toss of a coin, rather than by June's offer to change places with him; the end thus varied from performance to performance.
Production
The production itself included many coups de theatre to represent things like the camera obscura, the table tennis game frozen in time and the Stairway to Heaven.Most of the major reviewers seem to have seen it on a night when the toss of the coin determined that Peter would die. This does tend to negate much of what has gone before, all of his struggles to stay alive. Those that saw it on a night when Peter lived usually give a more positive report.
Controversy
Though individual assessments varied from Nicholas de JonghNicholas de Jongh
Nicholas de Jongh is a British theatre critic and playwright. He served as the senior drama critic of the Evening Standard from 1991 to 2009. Prior to that, he worked for the Guardian newspaper for almost 20 years...
's wholly negative account in the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
to Susannah Clapp's enthusiastic review in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, critical reaction to the play was generally poor. This prompted an attack by National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
on the major London critics, whom he described as "dead white men"http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article1785100.ece. His charges of misogyny and prejudice against female directors and new styles of theatre were hotly rebutted by his targets.